Christ the Lord

Out of Egypt : A Novel

Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice gives us now her most thoughtful and powerful book, a novel about the childhood of Christ the Lord based on the gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship. The book's power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing, and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of the young Jesus who tells the story.

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Anne Rice takes an extreme departure from usual genres in Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt; a fictional account of Jesus' early years not recorded in the Bible. Her account is based on extensive research of the New Testament and 1st Century history. The story has elements of adventure, strife, family life and the miraculous, written from the perspective of Jesus as a small boy. The "author notes" are also interesting for Anne Rice's account of her return to the Catholic Church. She notes an earlier fear of having to separate her intellectual beliefs from her faith. Her anxiety is relieved after studying texts skeptical about Christ and finding them incoherent, lacking in evidence and displaying an unaccountable bias against Christ. A study of more objective New Testament scholarship further allays her fears. Her faith is evident in her respectful and engaging treatment of Jesus, His family, and a part of His life that people may often wonder about.